There are three main reasons to visit the UAE in December, especially if your itinerary includes Dubai. The first one should be obvious to all. Due to its climate, visiting this lovely city in any other time would be purposefully subjecting oneself to more sunshine and higher temperatures than necessary. Even in December I “enjoyed” a sunburn in Dubai, and at times I had to wait around in malls or museums for the sun to go down a bit before resuming my explorations. So, even when the city is supposed to be at its coldest, for many, it will still be quite hot. Nevertheless, any other month would simply be worse off. So, if you actually want to explore Dubai on foot and see all that it has to offer as best as you can, you need to visit it in December.
However, the better weather is not the only thing that is going in favour of Dubai in December. There are two other seasonal occurrences to keep in mind when one plans a visit to this city. The first one is the Global Village, which is a theme park that is only open from October to April, and the other is the Dubai Shopping Festival, which takes place from December to January. Both of these bring some interesting things to the table, making it worthier to visit this already beautiful city in December. Let us now dive deeper to see just why I think so.
The Global Village
As I mentioned before, Global Village is a theme park, but it is no ordinary theme park. There are far too many theme parks in Dubai, and in the UAE in general, but I only visited one. This has to do with the fact that Global Village, as its name suggests, presents you a sneak peek into different parts of the world in a small village sized area for a 30 AED fee. You will find pavilions dedicated to certain countries and geographies all across this theme park, such as the one you see above, belonging to Egypt.
I managed to meet a few people who worked in this theme park, and both from their words and from my own experience, I can say that these pavilions are a hit and miss as far as authenticity is concerned. While some of them, like the Egyptian, Omani, Iranian, and to a certain degree Turkish ones are filled to the brim with their own nationals and do sell products from their own homelands, some others are less authentic. The Russian one was particularly a cause for concern to me. It had Latin dancers on its stage, American candies on its stores, and Chinese made souvenirs in its “Red Square” Souvenir Shop. There was quite literally nothing Russian nor even Slavic about it, other than one tiny pelmeni shop and a Kazakh café that sells bubble tea. Nevertheless, all pavilions have an interesting design, some shops, some eateries, and a stage where you can watch a (hopefully) culturally relevant show.
Speaking of food, as some of you may have already guessed, that was the biggest attraction for me in the Global Village. You see, while all these pavilions already have a few eateries, there are also entire streets dedicated to small kiosks that serve dishes from all over the world. It was an incredible opportunity to try a few things that I wanted to try for a while or eat some old dishes that my taste buds have been missing for seemingly an eternity. I started my night with an Iranian ash reshteh, a simple soupy dish that consists of many greens, pulses, and some fried onions on top. It was as good as I thought it would be and made me realize once again that I should not keep postponing that trip of mine to Iran any longer.
I was lucky enough to enjoy my ash as some (supposedly, hopefully, likely) Iranian artists took to the stage to perform some Persian songs. Again, such stages can be found on all pavilions to my knowledge. They often have a single show which they repeat a few times throughout the night. You can find out about when the next show is on a billboard somewhere close to the stage usually, or, if you cannot find one, you can just ask one of the staff around. They do make the whole experience far more enjoyable. Also, technically speaking, this is what you pay for with your 30 AED. All the food and drinks inside are obviously extra, if you do not count the tiny samples that you may enjoy as you walk past numerous vendors.
There is also a big stage in the middle of the theme park which always has something bigger going on. It is either a concert, or a dance performance, or something else. Sometimes, the people that will play on it start playing somewhere else to attract people to go towards the main stage. This was one of those cases. This group, I believe from Colombia, started playing just at the beginning of the theme park, and led people to the main stage in around thirty minutes. It was an enjoyable experience, one that I watched intermittently as I zigzagged my way around many different pavilions that the Global Village had to offer.
You may have realized that the Iranian ash, however tasty it may be, was rather small. For 20 AED, its portion size left a lot to be desired. Well, get used to that. I do think that this theme park is making a killing with food sales, and possibly all sorts of sales made inside in general. The lobster roll you see above, while it was exceptionally tasty, came to a whopping 40 AED. For a tiny sandwich that was gone in exactly six bites (yes, I actually counted it) this was not ideal. You may be thinking that it is because it has some lobster meat in it, but I would then have to say that practically all main dishes (with starter portion sizes) were priced at 40 AED, including the likes of tiny margherita pizzas, instant noodles made to look cooler with a few other ingredients, and tiny burgers. I must admit that everything I ate here tasted good, and at times, like with this lobster roll, phenomenal, so perhaps all those inflated prices do translate to better ingredients. Nevertheless, just be ready to spend at least around 100 AED when you visit the Global Village, or come with a full stomach and stick to spending 30 AED only. For me, food played a big role in my enjoyment of the night, so I have to say that this was a sacrifice I was happy to make.
Unsurprisingly, if you are feeling social, you can also catch up with people from all around the world in the Global Village. I do think that you can do this pretty much all around the UAE, without paying anything extra for it, as migrants from all corners of the globe are seemingly spread all around the city, but the setting here is a bit cozier for such small talk to say the least.
All in all, I spent around five hours chatting with vendors, eating delicious food (like the cheese and muhammara mankosha you can see above), watching some concert and performances, and so on, and ended up spending a total of 110 AED in one night. This was more than what I spent in some entire days in this trip of mine, but it was certainly one of the more memorable parts of my entire trip as well. Oh also, do not be afraid of going there and coming back by public transportation as well. There are multiple buses to and from Global Village, and while they cost 12 AED instead of the usual 2-3 AED, they get the job done quite efficiently.
Dubai Shopping Festival’s Night Markets
What if you are not interested in curated experiences and want something more authentic, more organic instead? What if you do not wish to pay an entry fee to a multicultural venue that offers a lot of interesting food for you to explore? Should you still come to Dubai in December? Well, definitely. You see, during December, and a part of January, there is a festival called Dubai Shopping Festival that impacts many parts of the city, often for the better. Now, I am no expert on what this festival is all about. I saw many DSF posters all around, there were vouchers of some kind in some pop-up kiosks, there were some discounts and a few other shopping related goodies to check out, so on and so forth. What DSF means for me, however, are night markets.
Yes, night markets. These lovely night markets that truly teleports you to South East Asia with their mostly Filipino clientele are the best addition to the city ever, and these were where I have some of the fondest memories of Dubai. They vary in size and shape, but the gist of them remains the same. There is a small stage where some simple shows can be put on, surrounded by a few kiosks selling anything from cheap Chinese trinkets to not so cheap deep fried lobsters. People come here late at night to relax and socialize after an honest day’s work. Most of the patrons seem to be working class folks that love connecting with their roots, both through food and companionship from their compatriots.
We do not really have these night markets back in Turkey. Nor did the other countries where I lived in had such a culture. However, I was familiar with the concept for years, and always wanted to experience it myself. While it may not be the real thing, the night markets of Dubai certainly satisfied me thoroughly. You can try many different dishes sold by cheerful vendors and combine what different kiosks offer to make your very own dinner. For example, I went for a classic Japanese yakisoba with shrimp and a bubble tea on my very last night in the UAE, just to be on the safe side.
However, I did not care about playing it safe for the most part before that. I tried all that I could, in the limited time that I had in these night markets. That is how I got to know some true gastronomical gems, such as the cassava cake on the right side. I still have no idea what the dessert on the left was called, or made out of, but that was not that bad as well. Still, that cassava cake though, it was just mind-blowing.
My very last night in the UAE coincided with Christmas Eve, when I got to enjoy the celebration of the city’s Filipino community thoroughly. They were extremely welcoming, and in fact, teased the “foreigners” just to make them a part of their crowd as best as they could. While you can find these night markets in many neighbourhoods across Dubai, I enjoyed the ones near Union Bus Station in Deira and do think that these are some of the most bustling ones. Entry is completely free, and it is up to you to buy food here or even bring your own stuff from outside as I have seen some do. While you may not find this on many official or unofficial itineraries for Dubai, I do think that anyone that visits the city in December would make a terrible mistake if they did not enjoy at least a single night in one of these night markets.
All in all, while I am sure that Dubai has much to offer all around the year, it is truly best to visit it in December to make the most out of your stay with increased entertainment options, and with a much more agreeable climate. I could also enjoy a swim as many at the time did, alas, I did not. This is to say, while December adds a lot to your table to explore, it also does not really exclude any normally summertime activities like swimming, because, once again, the UAE in general and certainly Dubai in particular is still quite hot for many, or at least for me.